A Glimpse at Our Beloved Mawlana Shaykh Nazim's Life and TeachingsSheikh Nazim Obituary in The Guardian ( 21. August 2014) by Athar YawarIn Loving Memory Of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim on YouTube (08. August 2014) by Mawlana KhadimsTheSuccessor (14. May 2014) by Sheikh Adnan KabbaniMaulanaSheikhNazimIsInAkhirah (8. - 12. May 2014) by Sheikh Bahauddin Adil al-QubrusiUpdateOnMawlana (20. April - 5. May 2014) by Sheikh Bahauddin Adil al-QubrusiMaulanaSheikhNazimSeclusion (16. December 2012) by Sheikh Adnan KabbaniIn the Shade of the most distinguished Naqshbandi Order by Sheikh Adnan Kabbani
Glory and thanks to You, our Lord, for guiding us to the mercy oceans of Your truth and Your light. Allahumma! Send blessings and salutations of peace to our liege-lord Muhammad, the Seal of Your Prophets and Messengers who brought the Last Testament - the Qur'an - and upon his Family and all his Companions, and his inheritors past and present, especially his chief successor and representative in our time. The weak servant Gibril ibn Fouad was asked to "write a biography and article on our Beloved Mawlana Shaykh Nazim in your own few words about his life and teachings and your experience with him." This month of Rabi' al-Awwal 1425 (May 2004) is most appropriate for this. May Allah inspire both the writer and the reader about Mawlana Shaykh Nazim to render justice to this high subject. There is no power nor help except in Him. Just as He encompasses our ignorance with His knowledge, so may He encompass it with His mercy, Amin! ( Al-Hamdu lillah, permission was secured from Mawlana to release this text today.)

Mawlana's full name is Muhammad Nazim 'Adil ibn al-Sayyid Ahmad ibn Hasan Yashil Bash al-Haqqani al-Qubrusi al-Salihi al-Hanafi, may Allah sanctify his soul and have mercy on his foreparents. His kunya is Abu Muhammad - after his oldest son - and he is also the father of Baha' al-Din, Naziha, and Ruqayya.

He was born in 1341 (1922) in the city of Larnaca, Cyprus (Qubrus) to a family of Arab origin with Tatar roots. He told me that his father descended from Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Gilani. I was also told that his mother descends from Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi. This makes him a son of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, upon him blessings and peace, on his father's side and a son of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Allah be well pleased with him, on his mother's side.

After finishing school in Cyprus, Mawlana went to college in Istanbul and graduated in chemical engineering. There, he studied Arabic and fiqh under Shaykh Jamal al-Din al-Alsuni (d. 1375/1955) and received ijaza from him. He took tasawwuf and the Naqshbandi Tariqa from Shaykh Sulayman Arzarumi (d. 1368/1948) who eventually sent him to Sham (Syria).

Mawlana continued his Shari'a studies in Halab (Aleppo), Hama, and especially Hims. He studied at the shrine and mosque school of the great Companion Khalid ibn al-Walid (may Allah be well pleased with him) in Hims under its great Ulema and obtained ijaza in Hanafi fiqh from Shaykh Muhammad 'Ali 'Uyun al-Sud and Shaykh 'Abd al-Jalil Murad, and ijaza in hadith from the Muhaddith Shaykh 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Muhammad 'Ali 'Uyun al-Sud al-Hanafi.

Note that the latter is one of the ten great hadith teachers of the late Rifa'i Hafiz of Aleppo, Shaykh al-Islam 'Abd Allah Siraj al-Din (1924- 2002 CE) who sat on his knees for two hours at the feet of Mawlana Shaykh 'Abd Allah when the latter visited Aleppo in 1959 and who gave bay'a in the Naqshbandi Tariqa to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim during the latter's last visit to him in Aleppo in 2001 as narrated to me by Ustadh Muhammad 'Ali ibn Mawlana al-Shaykh Husayn 'Ali from Shaykh Muhammad Faruq 'Itqi al-Halabi who was present at the latter event.

Mawlana also studied under Shaykh Sa'id al-Siba'i who sent him to Damascus after receiving a sign related to the coming of Mawlana Shaykh 'Abd Allah al-Daghistani to Syria. After his initial arrival in Syria from Daghistan in the late thirties, Mawlana Shaykh 'Abd Allah lived mostly in Damascus but often visited Aleppo and Hims. In the latter city he got to know Shaykh Sa'id al-Siba'i who was director of the Khalid ibn Walid School. Shaykh Sa'id wrote him, "We have a remarkable student from Turkey studying with us." Mawlana Shaykh 'Abd Allah replied to him, "That student belongs to us; send him over!" That student was our teacher Mawlana Shaykh Nazim who came to Damascus and gave his bay'a to our Grandshaykh between 1941 and 1943.

The next year Mawlana al-Shaykh 'Abd Allah moved into the house bought for him by his first Syrian Murid and presently-living caliph, Mawlana al-Shaykh Husayn ibn 'Ali ibn Muhammad 'Ifrini al-Kurkani al-Rabbani al-Kurdi al-Shaykhani al-Husayni (b. 1336/1917) - Allah sanctify his soul and have mercy on his foreparents - in Qasyoun, the mount overlooking Damascus to which Allah Most High alluded: "By the Fig and the Olive! By Mount Sina!" (95:1-2) Qatada and al-Hasan al-Basri said: "The Fig is the Mount on which Damascus sits [Jabal Qasyun] and the Olive is the Mount on which Jerusalem sits." Narrated by 'Abd al-Razzaq, al-Tabari, al-Wahidi, al-Bayzawi, Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir, al-Suyuti, al-Shawkani, etc., all in their Tafsirs.

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim also bought a house near Grandshaykh's house and, together with Mawlana Shaykh Husayn, helped build Masjid al- Mahdi, Grandshaykh's Mosque, which was recently enlarged into a Jami' in the back of which is Grandshaykh's illumined grave and shrine and where, to this day, delicious cereal and chicken soup is prepared in huge vats and continues to be distributed to the poor twice a week.

Thus, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim lived in Damascus from the mid-forties to the early eighties, travelling at times to study or on behalf of Grandshaykh, until the latter left this life in 1973, after which Mawlana remained in Damascus for several years then moved to Cyprus.

So Mawlana, who is originally Cypriot, and Grandshaykh, who is originally Daghistani, both became Damascene "Shamiyyun" and lived in the district of the righteous (al-salihin) called Salihiyya! No doubt, the reason for the importance of Damascus for Mawlana and CategoryGrandsheikh GrandShaykh is because Sham is blessed and protected through the Prophets and Saints.

Imam Ahmad and his student Abu Dawud narrated with sahih chains that our Holy Prophet said, upon him blessings and peace: "You must go to Sham. It is Divinely chosen by Allah in all His earth. In it He protects His chosen servants; and Allah Almighty has given me a Guarantee concerning Sham and its people!" Imam al-Nawawi said in his book Irshad Tullab al-Haqa'iq ila Ma'rifati Sunan Khayr al-Khala'iq (s): "This hadith is among the huge merits of Sham and is an observable fact!"

The director of Dar al-Ifta' in Beirut, Lebanon, Shaykh Salah al-Din Fakhri told me in his house in Beirut and wrote to me by hand: On the morning of al-Ahad 20 Rabi' al-Akhir 1386 corresponding to Sunday 7 August, 1966, we were granted the privilege of visiting Shaykh 'Abd Allah al-Daghistani - Allah have mercy on him - in Mount Qasyun in Damascus on the initiative and in the company of Mawlana al-Shaykh Mukhtar al-'Alayli - Allah have mercy on him - the Mufti of the Republic of Lebanon at the time; [and uncle of Shaykh Hisham Kabbani], Shaykh Husayn Khalid the imam of Nawqara Mosque; Hajj Khalid Bashir - may Allah have mercy on both of them; Shaykh Husayn Sa'biyya [the present director of Dar al-Hadith al-Ashrafiyya in Damascus]; Shaykh Mahmud Sa'd; Shaykh Zakariyya Sha'r; and Hajj Mahmud Sha'r. The Shaykh received us most kindly, with a warm welcome full of happiness and mirth. This was in the presence of Shaykh Nazim al-Qubrusi - Allah save and keep him! We sat from nine o'clock in the morning until the zuhr call to prayer while the Shaykh - Allah have mercy on him - explained and spoke about Sham, its excellence, its extraordinary merits, and the fact that it is the site of the Resurrection and that Allah will gather all human beings in it for the final Reckoning. He mentioned things that moved our hearts and minds, imbued with the glorious spirit of the Salihiyya district, and he spoke about the indissoluble link - in practice as well as discourse - between tasawwuf and the Shari'a.... May Allah lead and keep us upon guidance in the company of the righteous Saints. Amin, ya Rabb al-'alamin! There are many more prestigious names of the Ulema and Awliya' of Sham that loved and associated with our Shuyukh during that golden period such as Shaykh Muhammad Bahjat al-Baytar (1311-1396), Shaykh Sulayman Ghawji al-Albani (d. 1378) the father of our teacher Shaykh Wahbi, Shaykh Tawfiq al-Hibri, Shaykh Muhammad al-'Arabi al-'Azzuzi (1308-1382) the Mufti of Lebanon and principal Shaykh of our teacher Shaykh Husayn 'Usayran, al-'Arif Shaykh Shahid al-Halabi, al-'Arif Shaykh Rajab al-Ta'i, Shaykh al-Qurra' Shaykh Najib Khayyata al-Farazi al-Halabi, al-'Arif Shaykh Muhammad al-Nabhan, Shaykh Ahmad 'Izz al-Din al-Bayanuni, al-'Arif Shaykh Ahmad al-Harun (1315-1382), Shaykh Muhammad Zayn al-'Abidin al-Jadhba, and others - Allah have mercy on all of them!

From that blessed thirty-year suhba between Mawlana and CategoryGrandsheikh GrandShaykh came those unparalleled Mercy Oceans that are still lavishing on every seeker their Endless Horizons, their Pink Pearls, their Rising Suns. No doubt, those early transcriptions are milestones of the greatest singlehanded call to Islam the US and Europe had seen in the twentieth century, by the grace of Allah!

May Allah bless Mawlana Shaykh Nazim ever more and grant him the highest stations He ever granted to His Friends, near our glorious liegelord Muhammad who said, upon him blessings and peace:
If anyone travels on a road in search of knowledge, Allah will cause him to travel on one of the roads of Paradise, the angels will lower their wings from pleasure with one who seeks knowledge, and the dwellers of the heavens and the earth and the fish in the depth of the sea will ask forgiveness for the person of learning!
The superiority of the person of learning over the ordinary believer is like that of the moon on the night when it is full over the rest of the stars! The Ulema are the inheritors of the Prophets, and the Prophets have neither dinar nor dirham, they leave only knowledge; and he who takes it takes an abundant portion! The first place I ever travelled in search of this Prophetic Knowledge was London in the month of Ramadan 1411 following my shahadat an la ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadun Rasulullah. There, I took Mawlana's noble hand for the first time and made bay'a after having been introduced to Tariqa by his son-in-law and American deputy, Shaykh Hisham Kabbani - may Allah guide him and all Mawlana's friends!
I visited Mawlana several times in his home in Cyprus and saw him in Damascus as well. Among the gifts of suhba Mawlana gave were the last two weeks of Rajab in the year 1422 - October 2001 - in his house and zawiya in the Turkish Cypriot town of Lefke. A memento of this experience was written in Arabic and English and published under the title Qubrus al-Tarab fi Suhbati Rajab or BookTheJoyOfCyprusInTheAssociationOfRajab The Joy of Cyprus in the Association of Rajab.

At that time and also later, during his last two trips to the US, in England, Cyprus, and Damascus, I took from Mawlana the same great directive for every seeker of truth: OUR GOAL IS THE DEFENSE AND ILLUSTRATION OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD AND HIS LOFTY ATTRIBUTES, upon him and his House and Companions blessings and peace; to which Allah support us!

I understood from this that the true Murid in the Naqshbandi-Haqqani Tariqa is the friend and helper of every defender of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and it is his duty to associate with such defenders because they are on Mawlana's path whether they are Naqshbandi or not.

When the octogenarian Friend of Allah in Johore, Malaysia, al-Habib 'Ali ibn Ja'far ibn 'Abd Allah al-'Aydarus received us in his home in May 2003, wearing clothes that had not changed since the 1940s, he looked like Mawlana in all respects and even seemed to mimick him when he said to pardon his broken Arabic. To our begging his du'a for our injured lands and people he replied, "The Umma is protected and in good hands and you have in Shaykh Nazim Sufficiency!"

Thus has it been for the humble murid of Mawlana in every encounter with the Awliya' of this Umma. They invariably show the highest respect and most fearsome humbleness to Mawlana and his silsila even when they are ostensibly on a different path such as al-Habib 'Ali al-'Aydarus in Malaysia; Sayyid Muhammad ibn 'Alawi al-Maliki in Makka; al-Habib 'Umar ibn Hafiz of Tarim; Sayyid Yusuf al-Rifa'i of Kuwait; Shaykh 'Isa al-Himyari in Dubai; Sayyid 'Afif al-Din al-Jilani and Shaykh Bakr al- Samarra'i of Baghdad; al-Sharif Mustafa ibn al-Sayyid Ibrahim al-Basir in central Morocco; the Grandmufti of Syria Shaykh Ahmad Kuftaro ibn Mawlana al-Shaykh Amin and his friends Shaykh Bashir al-Bani, Shaykh Rajab Dib, and Shaykh Ramazan Dib; the Kattani Shuyukh of Damascus; the late Shaykh 'Abd Allah Siraj al-Din and his nephew Dr. Nur al-Din 'Itr; Mawlana al-Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghuri; Dr. Samer al- Nass; and the remainder of our teachers and brethren in Damascus - may Allah always protect her and have mercy on them and us! I have met each of the above-named except for Shaykh Siraj al-Din and they all invoked tarazzi on Mawlana al-Shaykh Nazim, expressing belief in the loftiness of his wilaya and asking for his du'a or that of his followers; "And Allah suffices as Witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah" (48:28-29).

It is an agreed-upon rule among the Men of Allah that multiplicity of paths is the theme (dandana) of the unconnected while those that are mawsul are all on one path and in one circle and they know each other and love one another. They will be on pulpits of light on the Day of Resurrection. Therefore, we Murids of those respective paths must also know and love one another for the sake of Allah and His Prophet and His friends so that we may enter that blessed light and belong in the highest circle of suhba and jama'a away from furqa and arrogance.

As Allah Most High said: "O Believers! Beware of Allah and keep [company and loyalty] with the Truthful ones!" and our Holy Prophet said (s): "I charge you with following my Companions then those that follow them then those that follow; after that, lying will spread... But you must keep to the Jama'a and beware of separation!" This Jama'a is described in the mutawatir hadith: "He for whom Allah desires great good, He grants him true understanding in the Religion. I only distribute and it is Allah Who gives! That group shall remain in charge of the Order of Allah, unharmed by those who oppose them, until the coming of the Order of Allah." O Allah, make us thankful forever for what You gave and Your Rasul and Habib distributed!

Allah be well-pleased with them, have mercy on them, reward them, and benefit us with them through our ears, our hearts and our entire beings, Amin!

Certain would-be Sufi critics of the Haqqani Tariqa expressed criticism of our path for what they term "lack of knowledge." A prudent Sufi would be the last person to utter such deluded criticism! They should be the first of people to know that knowledge by itself is not only useless but may be a mortal trap that leads to Satanic pride. Neither the proud nor the ignorant are excused; yet the loving, sincere, and repentent Sufi who suffers even severe gaps in his knowledge and adab is closer to Allah Most High and to knowledge of Allah than the knowledgeable Sufi who harbors a speck of pride in his heart. May Allah protect you and us!

Ibrahim al-Khawwass said knowledge is not to know much but to obey the Sunna and practice what one knows even if a little. Imam Malik said knowledge is not to know many things but is a light Allah casts in the heart. Imam al-Shafi'i said knowledge is not to know proofs but to know what is beneficial. And when someone said of Ma'ruf al-Karkhi, "He is not very knowledgeable," Imam Ahmad said: " Mah! Allah forgive you! Is anything meant by Knowledge other than what Ma'ruf attained?!"

Other critics object to Rabita or "connection," a particular characteristic of the Naqshbandi Tariqa. More precisely, they object to the element of tasawwur or "picturing" in Rabita which requires of the Murid to picture the image of the Shaykh in the heart at the beginning and during dhikr. But Allah Most High said, "Truly in the Messenger of Allah you have a good example" (33:21) and He said to "enter the houses through their doors" (2:189) and so we come to the Prophet (s) through the Siddiq (may Allah be well pleased with him) , and to the latter through Salman (may Allah be well pleased with him) , and to the latter through Qasim (may Allah be well pleased with him) , and to the latter through the Sayyid (may Allah be well pleased with him) , etc. Since "the Ulema are the inheritors of the Prophets" it follows that the Murshid is our example of that example. He must be one of those of whom the Prophet said (s): "When you see them, you remember Allah!" This is narrated from Ibn 'Abbas, Asma' bint Zayd, and Anas (may Allah be well pleased with them) , and also from the Tabi'in Sa'id ibn Jubayr, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Ghanam, and Muslim ibn Subayh.

Some even object to the Murid's self-effacement in the Shaykh or fana' fil-Shaykh. They say, "Your Shaykh is just a man; let your fana' be in Rasulullah!" But it is false that the guiding Shaykh is just like any other. Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi said - Allah sanctify his soul: Know that wayfaring (suluk) in this Most Distinguished Path is by connection (rabita) and love for the Shaykh we follow. Such a Shaykh trod this Path steadfastly and was dyed (insabagha) with all kinds of perfections through the strength of Divine attraction (jadhba). His gaze cures the diseases of the heart and his Concentration (tawajjuh) lifts away spiritual defects. The owner of these perfections is the Imam of the period and the Khalifa of that time.... Thus our connection is love and our relationship (nisba) is mirroring and dyeing regardless of being near or far. Then the murid gets dyed in this Path by the connection of love for the Shaykh, hour by hour, and gets enlightened through the reflection of his lights. In this pattern, knowledge of the process is not a precondition for the giving or receiving of benefit. The watermelon ripens through the heat of the sun hour by hour and warms with the passage of days. It matures, yet what knowledge does it have of this? Does the sun even know that it ripens and warms it? As mentioned above, objecting to fana' fil-Shaykh is also like Objecting to love of the Shaykh. We aim to love our Shaykh and know that he is the worthiest object of love and respect in this world.

As the poet said:
Out of pure and sincere faithfulness to you I say:
Love of you is written inside my heart of hearts,
a patent engraving [NAQSH], an ancient writ.
Nor do I have any will [IRADA] except your love,
Nor can I say anything to you but that I love you.

On this topic Mawlana said recently: "We have been ordered to love holy people. These are the Prophets and, after Prophets, their inheritors, the Awliya'. We have been ordered to believe in Prophets and belief gives us Love. Love makes people to follow that beloved one. ITTIBA' means to love and follow while ITAAT means [only] to follow. An obedient person may be obedient by force or by love but not always by love.

"Now, Allah Almighty is asking for His servants to love Him. And servants can't reach directly to love of their Lord. Therefore, Allah Almighty sends, on behalf of Himself, Prophets that represent Him among His servants. And everyone that loves Awliya and Anbiya, through Awliya are reaching love of Prophets. And through love of Prophets you are reaching to love of Allah Almighty.

"Therefore, without love, a person can't be a beloved one in the Divine presence. If you are not giving your love, how does Allah Almighty love you?

"But people that are like wood, dry, dry wood, are denying love. They are such dry ones - no life! A tree, with love, is opening through spring time. But dry ones, even if seventy springs came on them, never open. Love makes nature open and give its fruits, its beauty to people. Without love, it should never be opening, never flowering, never giving its fruits. "So love IS the most important pillar for faith. No love, no faith. I may speak on it up to next year, but you must understand, from a drop, an ocean!" (This is the end of Mawlana's talk.)

By Mawlana, Allah has made all difficult things easy. We are grateful to know him because he is our shortcut to the nur in this Religion. This nur is the goal of every sane person. It is described in the magnificent verse "He gives wisdom unto whom He will, and he unto whom wisdom is given, he truly has received abundant good! But none remember except people of understanding" (2:269). May Allah grant us this wisdom and keep us on the path He commands and loves for us! May Allah grant Mawlana long life in health and grant us the rank of his true discipleship for the sake of the Most Honored Prophet Muhammad!

2 He also received the Qadiri Tariqa from Shaykh Ibrahim al-Qadiri (as did Shaykh Jamal al-Din) with whom he began his suluk until Shaykh Ibrahim directed him to Shaykh al-Thughuri cf. 'Ali, Tariqa Naqshbandiyya (p. 229).

4 Cf. al-Bakini, Hadaya (p. 396). He received the Qadiri Tariqa from Shaykh Ibrahim al-Qadiri and introduced the loud dhikr into the Daghistani branch of the Naqshbandiyya through that authorization cf. al-Bakini, Hadaya (p. 396); 'Ali, Tariqa Naqshbandiyya (p. 229).

5 And not 1254 as erroneously mentioned in several sources. The correction is thanks to 'Ali, Tariqa Naqshbandiyya (p. 214). Muhammad al-Yaraghi also took directly from Shaykh Isma'il al-Shirwani cf. al-Bakini, Hadaya (p. 350-351).

6 From present-day Shirvan in Azerbaijan. He died in Damascus and is buried in Mount Qasyoun next to Mawlana Khalid and Mawlana Isma'il al-Anarani who is Mawlana Khalid's first successor who died seventeen days after the death of Mawlana Khalid, both of them from the plague - may Allah have mercy on them and all His shuhada'.

At a very young age, Nazim displayed unexplained talents in the form of explaining to his teachers what they were going to teach before it was introduced.[3] After completing secondary school in 1940, at the age of 18 Nazim moved to Istanbul, where two brothers and a sister were living. He studied chemical engineering at Istanbul University. While advancing in his non-religious studies, Nazim continued his education in Islamic theology and the Arabic language under the tutelage of Cemalettin Elassonli (d. 1955 CE). Nazim received a degree in chemical engineering, yet he would later state, "I felt no attraction to modern science. Rather, my heart was always drawn to the spiritual sciences." He is fluent in Turkish (native), Arabic, English, and Greek.

At some point during his first year of life in Istanbul, Nazim met his first spiritual guide, Suleyman Erzurumi (d. 1948), who was a murshid in the Naqshbandi Order.

Nazim attended the gatherings of this particular shaykh which were held in the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. Here he learned the basic spiritual methods of the Naqshbandi Order, in addition to those of the Qadiri and the Mevlevi. His focus on spirituality was further reinforced by the unexpected death of an elder brother who died serving as a doctor in World War II. Shortly after obtaining his degree, Nazim received inspiration to go to Damascus in order to find the famed Naqshbandi master, Abdullah al-Fa'izi ad-Daghestani. He obtained permission from Shaykh Erzurumi to leave Istanbul and in 1944 he arrived in Syria, although the unrest caused by the Vichy French government prevented his entry into Damascus until 1945. Upon meeting with the master, whose tekke is located on the slopes of the Jabal Qasyoun, Nazim took his hand in bay'ah, or initiation.

Shortly thereafter Abdullah Daghestani ordered Nazim to return to his native Cyprus to deliver spiritual guidance. Abdullah also reportedly conferred the title of "Shaykh" to Nazim, thus giving him the legitimacy to speak on behalf of the Naqshbandi Order.

While in Cyprus, Nazim came into conflict with pro-Atatürk governing body of the Turkish community of the island. His repeated act of making the adhan in Arabic rather than the prescribed Turkish brought several lawsuits against him and there were some 114 cases lodged against him for crimes against the secular order. Nevertheless all these were dropped shortly thereafter with the coming to power of Adnan Menderes in Turkey, whose government opted for a more tolerant approach to Islamic traditions.

Nazim moved back to Damascus in 1952, when he was wed to the daughter of one of the murids of Abdullah Daghestani, Amina Adil, whose family came to settle in Syria after fleeing Soviet rule of their native Kazan. From that time, Nazim took up residence in Damascus, and every year he would visit Cyprus for at least three months. The couple have two daughters and two sons.

Worldwide mission work

In the year following the death of Abdullah Fa'izi ad-Daghestani in 1973, Nazim began visiting Western Europe, travelling every year from the Middle East to London. On his return trips to Damascus, he would often drive by car through the former Yugoslavia, spending time visiting the Muslim communities there. It became his practice to spend the month of Ramadan in the large centre established in London. In 2000 this practice was discontinued.

In 1997, Nazim visited Daghestan, the homeland of his murshid, Abdullah Fa'izi ad-Daghestani. He also made repeated visits to Uzbekistan were he made the pilgrimage to the tomb of the eponymous founder of the Naqshbandi Order, Shah Baha'uddin Naqshband.

In 1991, Nazim visited the United States for the first time. At that time Nazim made the first of four nationwide tours, during the course of which he brought several hundred individuals into the fold of Islam.

In 1996, Nazim was guest of honour at the First International Islamic Unity Conference. Over 8,000 people attended this conference, which included major Islamic scholars from around the world and whose theme focused on Islamic spirituality. While in the United States, Nazim gave widely attended speeches and associations and dhikr gatherings in a number of venues, including churches, temples, universities, mosques and New Age centres.

In 1998, Nazim was again chief guest of honour at the Second International Islamic Unity Conference, held in Washington DC. Attended by over 6000 people, the highlight of this conference was the ringing denunciation of terrorism by Nazim to the 160 Islamic scholars and VIPs from around the world, including the current Grand Mufti of Egypt, Grand Muftis of Russia and neighbouring nations and dignitaries from Malaysia, Indonesia, the Middle East and Africa.

Later in 1998, Nazim traveled to South Africa, accompanied by a large contingent of students from around the globe. There he visited Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, in each city giving lectures in mosques filled to capacity.

In 2001, Nazim, made the 2001 "Naqshbandi-Haqqani Eastern World Tour of the Muslim World", starting in Uzbekistan, from where he then travelled to Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. In the course of this journey, Nazim met with people of all walks of life, from the highest dignitaries and leaders to the common folk. The Shaykh, despite his advanced age, was able to maintain an incredibly hectic schedule of meetings, speeches, dhikr gatherings and spiritual gatherings with little or no rest for a period of forty days and covering a distance of over 15,000 miles.

Nazim made his last trip to the United States in 2000, during which he was invited to speak at a United Nations conference on Religion and Spirituality.

Sheikh Nazim's Dergah

Nazim has had close relations with several notable politicians, notably the late president of Turkey, Turgut Ozal, as well as the ex Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktas. During his travels in Southeast Asia he gave his spiritual blessings to His Majesty Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei. His Highness Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X of Yogyakarta and several members of Malaysia's royal families, including His Highness Prince Raja Dato' Seri Ashman Shah have taken initiation into the Naqshbandi-Haqqani Order at his hand. He also traveled on numerous occasions to India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka where he has been received with great fanfare. In the late 1990s he visited South Africa where he established contacts with the Sunni Muslim community. Nazim has made the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) some 27 times.

Nazim rarely travels abroad nowadays. As of 2010 he mainly resides in his family home and spiritual dergah in the town of Lefka, Northern Cyprus, where he is still visited by hundreds of murids each week.

A website which is authorized by and dedicated to Maulana Nazim is Sufilive.com. In 2010 his own official online journal Saltanat.org went online. It provides articles written by him and broadcasts his lectures via livestream. For a comprehensive account of the teachings of Sheikh Nazim, a website approved and authorized by Sheikh Nazim, which is also often referred to as the Sheikh Nazim Website is also online. See http://sheiknazim.ws. This website has the distinction of being the first website through which ONLINE BAYYATH was given on the specific instructions of Sheikh Nazim.

Nazim and his organisations are not connected to the Haqqani network that is active in Afghanistan and Pakistan."Die Menschen im Westen brauchen Licht" - Über Scheikh Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqani al-Qubrusi an-Naqschbandi